How Did the 2007-08 Free Agents Fare?

July 21, 2009 By: admin Category: NHL

How Did the 2007-08 Free Agents Fare?,

Now that the regular season is history, with the playoffs set to begin on Wednesday, it�??s a good time to look back at how last summer�??s free agents fared with their new teams in 2007-08.

The Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers made the most offseason noise in the free-agent market, and one could make a case that they and the St. Louis Blues enjoyed the biggest payoff.

Daniel Briere left Buffalo for Philadelphia and led all of last summer�??s free agents in both goals and points. He and teammate Scott Hartnell combined for 55 goals with their new club.

Most Goals & Points by 2007-08 Free Agents

Player. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .G. . . . . . . . . .Player. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pts
Daniel Briere, Phi. . . . . . . .31. . . . . . . . . .Daniel Briere, Phi. . . . . . . 72
Petr Sykora, Pit. . . . . . . . .28. . . . . . . . . .Scott Gomez, NYR. . . . . . .70
Keith Tkachuk, StL. . . . . . .27. . . . . . . . . .Paul Kariya, StL. . . . . . . . .65
Radim Vrbata, Pho. . . . . . .27. . . . . . . . . Petr Sykora, Pit. . . . . . . . . 63
Chris Drury, NYR. . . . . . . . 25. . . . . . . . . Chris Drury, NYR. . . . . . . . 58
Scott Hartnell, Phi. . . . . . .24. . . . . . . . . Keith Tkachuk, StL. . . . . . .58

The Rangers�?? two big signings before the season, Chris Drury and Scott Gomez, collected 128 points. Among the 18 free agents with 50+ points in 2006-07 before changing teams, Gomez was one of only four players who tallied more points in 2007-08. After recording 13 goals and 60 points with the New Jersey Devils in 2006-07, he followed up with 16 and 70 in his first year in New York.

The other free agents to improve their point production in 2007-08 were Pittsburgh�??s Petr Sykora, Viktor Kozlov of the Islanders and Chicago�??s Robert Lang. The 31-year-old Sykora recorded his highest point total in six years with 28 goals and 63 points. Kozlov and Lang both finished with 54 points this season.

Also in this group of 18 players with 50+ points before signing a free-agent contract last summer is Keith Tkachuk, who returned to the St. Louis Blues. He matched both his goal and point total of the year before with 27-31-58 for a second straight season.

Among the 10 players with 25+ goals before becoming free agents, no one surpassed his 2006-07 total. Only Tkachuk matched his with 27. In 2007-08, however, free agents Sykora (28) and Radim Vrbata (27) joined the 25-goal club.

Overall, the production of the 2007-08 free-agent class was down. Although Briere was good for 32 goals and 95 points in his final season with the Buffalo Sabres, you won�??t find the Flyers complaining about his 31-41-72 campaign.

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